by Don Jung

Scout Troop 849 led a bugle color guard to start our flag salute, led by Russ Samuel’s son Quinten. Younger brother Peyton was also there as a member of the troop. The thought of the day came from Helen Keller: “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.”
 
President Cedric Tuck-Sherman then introduced numerous guests: Jerry and Tatenda Johnson visiting from Zimbabwe, Rick Farrell introduced Madelyne Salo, David Hadley introduced his wife Suzanne, Kelly Stroman introduced Maureen McBride, and Debbie Goldberg had her friend Susan Goldman.
 
Our featured speaker was our Los Angeles County District Attorney, Nathan Hochman. He took over an office of 2,100 employees including 750 prosecutors, and told how he took his demoralized department out of the Garcon doldrums by focusing on six areas of law: enforcing prosecution, getting police collaboration, bringing attention to victim’s families, imposing strict laws on criminals, reducing residential burglaries, and cutting down the Fentanyl epidemic by taking down the sellers and distributors of this deadly drug.
 
He is a strong believer of First Amendment rights and wants our Los Angeles County
Board of Supervisors to expand and improve our prison system, which has the
capacity to hold 12,500 in fairly inadequate conditions. He started out with a 
14,000 case load and has now streamlined it down to 7,500 cases. 
 
We had one of our scholarship recipients, Kina Desai, speak and thank us for the honor. Kina is a student at Duke University.
 
President Cedric reminded us of the upcoming District Picnic on August 23, the President’s Reception on September 6, the November 1 event at the USS Iowa ship and the Opportunity Drawing that gets you Paul Harris points for the donation.
 
Tyler Chamberlain spoke of his Eagle Scout project to build a 26-foot climbing apparatus for rescued cats to enjoy before they get adopted.
 
Tom Zimmerman had both winning raffle tickets, winning him the wine bottle but not the cash.

For more meeting photos, go to SmugMug.

 

by Editor
 
When I saw Levi Lupercio filling drink orders at Playa Hermosa, he told me that his wife Lisa Hemmat-Lupercio had told him she didn't know how many people would show up for the South Bay Rotary Clubs Summer Social -- it could be 10, 20 or 50. Host Lisa underestimated! Approximately 65 people representing 10 different District 5280 clubs showed up, including 20 plus MB Rotarians. It was a beautiful day in Hermosa Beach, and the crowd spilled over from the beach-view patio to inside tables. Looking at the trays of drinks going by, margaritas seemed to be a strong favorite with many folks taking advantage of the special Rotary fish taco plate. It was the perfect opportunity for Rotarians from different clubs to mix and mingle!

 

by Editor

We know our Monday Rotary meetings give us a chance to chat, coffee cups in hand, with members. But soon it's on to the meeting. So - do you have an opportunity to really connect with your fellow members? Kathleen Terry had an idea that would allow newer members to get to know older members (not in age but in years of membership). That idea was the Rotary Connection Challenge. The 72 members who responded to Kathleen's August email were paired. They then had the opportunity to meet for lunch, coffee, cocktails, a walk -- whatever option they chose. Thank you to these Rotarians who shared their Connection photos (from top): Wimberly Meyer and Ken Deemer, (l to r) John Clough and Dave Harris, Chris Coye and Dave Long, Charlie and Weezie Steinmetz and Mark and Kathy Shoemaker, TK Pillan and Nelson Gray. If you have a photo from the Connection Challenge, please email it to me at svogl@usc.edu.